Heater unit

ABSTRACT

A heater unit for heating equipment is provided which includes: a heater housing disposed on a bottom portion of the equipment in such a manner as to firmly stick thereto and having a heat source; a buffer space portion formed between the bottom portion of the equipment and an upper portion of the heater housing for equalizing heat generated in the heater housing; and a plurality of heating modules disposed in a dispersed fashion within the heater housing.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a heater unit for heating equipment.

RELATED ART

In association with the advent of multi-function control equipment,while control equipment has found various applications other thanconventional ones, places where such control unit is placed are nowdiversified as control targets are dispersed over a wide area. Inassociation with this trend, the number of cases is increasing where thecontrol unit is places in sites where conditions are severe. As anexample of such cases, there can be raised a pipeline control in a dryregion where the temperature changes drastically within a day or ahigh-latitude region where it is extremely cold.

There are many cases where it is difficult for all electronic componentsranging from their housings to constituent electronic components tosatisfy required temperature specifications. In such cases, a method hasbeen adopted in which a heater for heating the whole of the interior ofan enclosure is placed together with control equipment within theenclosure so as to satisfy a temperature specification for the controlequipment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view which shows a heating construction forrelated-art communication equipment disclosed in Patent Document 1(Japanese Patent unexamined Publication No. 2002-237693). In thiscommunication equipment 10, a plurality of panels of plug-in type arerespectively accommodated in shelves of a shelf-type housing, and a fanunit 11 is installed at the center of the housing to equalize thetemperature therein. Small heaters 13 are mounted on a back side of afront edge of each guide rail plate 12 in a dispersed fashion.

A temperature sensor 14 is mounted on a rear edge of an upper guide railplate 12, and a heater control unit 16 is mounted on a side plate 15which switches on and off each heater so as to hold the temperaturewithin a predetermined range based on a temperature detected by thetemperature sensor 14. Each panel is heated mainly by virtue of thermalconduction from the heater 13 via the metallic guide rail plates 12 andside plates 15, and the fan unit 11 equalizes the temperature inside thehousing.

The following problems are caused by the related-art heater unit.

(1) Since the heaters are disposed in the dispersed fashion togetherwith the heating targets within the housing, the construction of thehousing becomes complex, and this interrupts the standardization ofequipment and constitutes a main cause for cost increase.

The number of heaters dispersed within the housing needs to be increasedin order to equalize the temperature therein. Furthermore, the fan unitneeds to be provided within the housing to equalize the temperaturetherein, which constitutes another main cause for cost increase.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a heater unit which isconstructed separately from equipment to be heated and which uses atemperature distribution equalizing means having an extremely simplifiedconstruction.

One or more embodiments of the invention will be configured as follows.

(1) A heater unit for heating equipment comprising:

a heater housing disposed on a bottom portion of the equipment in such amanner as to firmly stick thereto and having a heat source;

a buffer space portion formed between the bottom portion of theequipment and an upper portion of the heater housing for equalizing heatgenerated in the heater housing; and

a plurality of heating modules disposed in a dispersed fashion withinthe heater housing.

(2) A heater unit as set forth under (1), wherein the heating moduleincludes a printed substrate on which a heating component is installed.

(3) A heater unit as set forth under (2), wherein the printed substrateis connected to a base substrate disposed on an inner circumferentialwall of the heater housing via a connector.

(4) A heater unit as set forth under (3), wherein a heat insulatingmember is disposed on the inner circumferential wall of the heaterhousing which faces the base substrate.

(5) A heater unit as set forth under any of (2) to (4), wherein theprinted substrates are disposed in a dispersed fashion in order toadjust a heat distribution within the heater housing.

(6) A heater unit as set forth under any of (1) to (5), wherein ventholes are formed in the upper portion and the bottom portion of theheater housing.

Various implementations may include one or more the followingadvantages. For example, the following advantages are provided.

(1) By disposing the heater housing immediately under the equipmentseparately from the equipment in such a manner as to firmly stickthereto, the construction is made simple and the standardization ofequipment is not interrupted, compared to the related-art constructionin which the heaters are disposed in the dispersed fashion together withthe equipment to be heated thereby within the equipment housing.

(2) By forming the buffer space portion between the equipment to beheated and the heater housing, the construction of the housing is madesimple, compared to the related-art construction in which the specialfan unit is provided to equalize the temperature distribution, and thiscan contribute to reduction in cost.

(3) By making the heat sources which are disposed in the dispersedfashion within the heater housing into the modules and making, in turn,the heating modules into the form of printed substrates which areconnected to the base substrate via the connecter means, not only theamount of heat for heating can be adjusted by exchanging printedsubstrates having different heat amounts but also the difference insupply voltage in an environment where the heater unit is used can bedealt with, thereby making it possible to develop many variations.

(4) Since the connecting position where the printed substrate isconnected to the base substrate with the connector can be disposed inthe dispersed fashion in an arbitrary pattern, the equalization intemperature distribution within the heater housing can easily berealized, and a synergetic effect with the equalization attained by thebuffer space portion can be expected.

(5) By disposing the base substrate, the printed substrates and,furthermore, the heat insulating member in the form of a substrate insuch a manner as to surround the inner circumferential wall of theheater housing, the amount of heat that escapes from side surfaces ofthe heater housing can be reduced, the energy can be saved, and thewaiting time from the initiation of heating until the equipment can beactivated can be reduced.

Other features and advantages may be apparent from the followingdetailed description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of equipment on which aheater unit of the invention is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a heaterhousing.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing in a perspective fashion a mountingconstruction of heating modules which are disposed in a dispersedfashion within the heater housing.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of theheating module which is made up of a printed substrate.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a heating module which shows anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a heating construction ofrelated-art communication unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, the invention will be described in detail by reference tothe accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodimentof equipment on which a heater unit of the invention is mounted.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes rack-mounted equipment to beheated. Reference numeral 2 denotes a similarly rack mounted heaterhousing, which is disposed on a bottom portion of the equipment 1 insuch a manner as to firmly stick thereto. Reference numeral 3 denotes abuffer space portion, which is formed between the bottom portion of theequipment 1 and an upper portion of the heater housing 2 to equalizeheat generated in the heater housing 2. Reference numeral 4 denotesheating modules, which are disposed in a dispersed fashion within theheater housing 2 with a predetermined density.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of theheater housing 2. Vent holes 22 are formed continuously in an upper sidepanel 21. Although not shown, similar vent holes are formed in a lowerside panel. The buffer space portion 3 is realized by a space which issurrounded by upper side walls of the housing above the upper side panel21, and there exist no special constituent element inside the space.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a mounting construction of theheating modules 4 which are disposed in the dispersed fashion within theheater housing 2 in a perspective fashion. The plurality of heatingmodules 4 are each made up of a printed substrate and are connected andheld to a base substrate 5 which disposed on an inner circumferentialwall portion of the heater housing 2 with a connector in a direction inwhich the heating modules 4 intersect the base substrate 5 at rightangles. In this embodiment, the heating modules 4 are disposed anddispersed equally inside the heater housing 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of theheating module 4 which is made up of the printed substrate. Referencenumeral 41 denotes a contact portion which is inserted into a connectorprovided on the base substrate 5. Reference numeral 42 denotes aplurality of heat generating elements which are disposed on thesubstrate in a dispersed fashion, and a chip-shaped ceramic heater, anormal resistor element or the like can be used for the heat generatingelement. By disposing the heat generating elements in the dispersedfashion, heat generated on the heating module 4 can be equalized over asurface of the printed substrate.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of heating modules 4 which shows anotherembodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, locations where theheating modules 4 are connected to a base substrate 5 are not at equalintervals but are made coarse at center and dense at both ends of aheater housing 2, whereby the amount of heat to be generated is madelarge at both end portions of the heater housing 2 where heat tends toescape easily so as to equalize a heat distribution within the heaterhousing 2.

In addition to the purpose for equalizing the temperature distribution,in the event that a specific area of equipment, above all, a specificcomponent or location of the equipment which does not operate at lowtemperatures is desired to be heated, or in the event that a specificportion of the equipment needs to be heated further while the whole ofthe equipment is being heated, a temperature distribution of specificpattern can be realized in which the dispersion of heat sources is madeunequal intentionally.

Thus, on one hand, a heating distribution according to a necessarydegree can be realized by disposing the heat sources at unequalintervals, and on the other hand, the energy utilizing efficiency can beincreased by reducing the temperature of a location where no intensiveheating is required.

In the embodiment as shown in FIG. 5, by disposing the heating modules 4at unequal intervals within the heater housing 2, the heat distributionis adjusted. However, the adjustment of the heat distribution is notlimited to this embodiment, and may be made by changing the number ofthe heat generating elements within the respective heating modules 4 inaccordance with the location of the heating modules 4. For example, in acase where the heating modules 4 are disposed at equal intervals withinthe heater housing 2, the number of the heat generating elements withinthe heating modules 4 located in the center of the heater housing 2 maybe made smaller than that of the heat generating elements within theheating modules 4 located at both ends of the heater housing 2.

In this invention, by disposing the base substrate and the printedsubstrates which make up the heating modules 4 in such a manner as tosurround the inner circumferential walls of the heater housing 2, theamount of heat which escapes from the side surfaces of the heatinghousing can be reduced, so that the energy can be saved and the waitingtime from the initiation of heating until the equipment can be activatedcan be reduced.

Furthermore, by disposing the heat insulating member which is similar tothe printed substrate on the inner circumferential surface of the heaterhousing 2 which faces the base substrate 5, the four innercircumferential walls are surrounded by the heat insulating membersincluding the base substrate 5 and the heating modules 4, so that theenergy utilization efficiency can be increased further.

1. A heater unit for heating equipment comprising: a heater housingdisposed on a bottom portion of the equipment in such a manner as tofirmly stick thereto and having a heat source; a buffer space portionformed between the bottom portion of the equipment and an upper portionof the heater housing for equalizing heat generated in the heaterhousing; and a plurality of heating modules disposed in a dispersedfashion within the heater housing.
 2. A heater unit as set forth inclaim 1, wherein the heating module includes a printed substrate onwhich at least one heating component is installed.
 3. A heater unit asset forth in claim 2, wherein the printed substrate is connected to abase substrate disposed on an inner circumferential wall of the heaterhousing via a connector.
 4. A heater unit as set forth in claim 3,wherein a heat insulating member is disposed on the innercircumferential wall of the heater housing which faces the basesubstrate.
 5. A heater unit as set forth in claim 2, wherein the printedsubstrates are disposed in a dispersed fashion in order to adjust a heatdistribution within the heater housing.
 6. A heater unit as set forth inclaim 1, wherein vent holes are formed in the upper portion and thebottom portion of the heater housing.
 7. A heater unit as set forth inclaim 5, wherein locations of the printed substrates are not at equalintervals but are made coarse at center and dense at both ends of theheater housing.
 8. A heater unit as set forth in claim 5, wherein thenumber of the heating components installed in each of the printedsubstrates located at center of the heater housing is made smaller thanthat of the heating components installed in each of the printedsubstrates located at both ends of the heater housing.
 9. A heater unitas set forth in claim 1, wherein the buffer space portion is a spacewhich is surrounded by upper side walls of the heater housing.